Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton
Week of December 16, 2024
The Brutalist
Unrated but would be a hard R or worse
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%
In Theaters
This epic historical drama tells the story of a Jewish immigrant (Adrien Brody) who survives the holocaust and comes to America, in the hopes that his wife (Felicity Jones) might someday be able to join him to live out their lives in safety and hope. But life is hard for him as he has gone from being one of Budapest’s most noted architects to a traumatized day laborer in Pennsylvania. But when an opportunity comes along to surprise a rich businessman (Guy Pearce) with a renovated library in his home, his talent is discovered and he is given the opportunity to design and create a massive project. There is a lot to like here in this movie and at times it comes off like The Godfather with a There Will Be Blood vibe. Writer/director Brady Corbet (Vox Lox) paints a rough but beautiful portrait of the immigrant experience, filled with the good, the bad, the lonely, the desperate and a host of other emotions that would have been natural in a character such as this. And Adrien Brody is the perfect actor to play the part. Tough and delicate at the same time, he moves through the film in a way that has us cheering for him while dreading his demons as he struggles through his journey. The performances of the supporting cast, especially those from Pearce and Jones, are top of the line and all three should be favorites for awards nominations and possible wins. Unfortunately, the film has some major flaws that detract from its ability to be consistent. My biggest problem is the movie has some very graphic sexual scenes that really distract from the focus of the film. These scenes frustrated me and took me out of the project, rather than the intended purpose of making the story clearer. After all, I would only assume that Corbet would say these moments were the focus of the film and the nature of the flawed characters. I had no problem with the frank sexual nature of other films this year such as Anora or The Substance, but here, I couldn’t help but think to myself “why is this even necessary?” Also of note is a really hefty runtime, that could have been compressed. At over three-and-a-half hours, the film does seem a little long at times. I did love that he included an intermission, but a shave and haircut would have taken away that need. I also thought the style of the epilogue was odd and completely out of place in such a project. Maybe on a secondary viewing it might make sense, but here it had me scratching my head. While it won’t top my list of films this year, it is already being touted as a potential Oscar winner. Time will tell. This film shows a lot of promise, but some strange and out of place choices from its creator causes it to get in its own way. B+